3. Glue the large rectangular piece on first to cover the tube. Toilet paper rolls come in different sizes, so if you find the rectangle is a bit too big, just trim it down. If you find it's a bit too small, just cut out another small piece to fill in the gap.

4. Glue on the head, fire hat, legs and tail (using the tab to make a 3D effect).

5. This step is optional. To make the dog stand up on all four legs, take 4 toothpicks. Glue or Tape 1 toothpick to each of the legs.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

It's time to practice our fire escape route, thank a firefighter, and make some neat arts & crafts!

As a mom to three boys, I know a lot about Firetrucks, Firemen, and everything that goes with it! For My oldest sons' 3rd birthday we did a Firetruck theme. We made our own cake which was a three tiered fire truck. We gave out firefighter hats to all the kids who attended. We even had the local fire department show up with a ladder truck! And No I did not set the house on fire, we just asked them if they would come and they did! It never hurts to ask. =) Check out the pictures below {sorry their kinda blurry}. For more ideas and tips on birthdays feel free to ask.

This was his Halloween Costume that year!

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Here is the cake I made. It has pretzels for the ladder, donuts for the
wheels, and a licorice for the house.

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They brought out a huge ladder truck!

The best part about this birthday was that we got to learn more about Fire Fighters and what they do. This week I will be posting some activities that we can all do to learn more about fire safety and sharing what I do with my boys so stay tuned for more.

Thank A Fireman!

One thing we are doing this week is coloring thank you cards for our local fire department.

The kids will color the pictures and then present them to the fire fighters on Friday when we take

a special trip to the Fire Station. Have your kids color a picture and show your support for your local fire fighters!

Friday, October 5, 2012

This is just a simple project I made today. I was cleaning out the snack cabinet and realized we had 5 boxes of different flavors of Oatmeal (we eat a lot of oatmeal). The boxes are big and bulky and take up way too much room (I had no room for the oreos, that's what started this clean up). I decided to reorganize them by recycling some empty Frappuccino boxes.

I love these little drinks, they are tasty and such a pick me up!

The Materials I used for this project:

One Glue Stick

Some Pretty Scrap Paper

I started by cutting out the inserts in the box. Then I fit the paper to the box. Next I glued the paper to the box. For a finishing touch I labeled the boxes with the corresponding flavor of Oatmeal. Here's how it turned out.

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It may not be the greatest DIY Project, but hey it makes my snack cabinet a bit more organized and pretty too! This project took all of 5 minutes to complete.

Monday, October 1, 2012

With Halloween right around the corner I thought I'd share this little Mom to Mom Tip. As a mom, Halloween can be one of the funnest holidays to celebrate. When we have kids we just can't wait for that first time that we get to relive our childhood by going trick-or-treating with our own little ones. We spend lots of money or lots of time and hard work on these adorable costumes that will wear only once. So what do you do with the costumes afterwards? Here's what I do.

When you think of playing dress up, you think of little girls wearing frilly princess dresses and having elaborate tea parties. (At least that's what I think of) Why does dress up have to be only for girls? My boys love to dress up and play make believe. It strengthens their imagination and it keeps them occupied for longer than a few seconds (*bonus*). Its not easy to find dress up clothes for boys, stores seem to have a very limited selection. So I made a box of all their old Halloween costumes. All my hard work and money spent on these costumes was just wasted before. Now they play with them year round! How to do it: When you buy or make costumes, make sure they are a size or 2 bigger so that they can be worn again even if they get a little bigger. I try to buy costumes with accessories (like masks, hats, arm pieces, tools, etc.) because these make for great additions to the dress up box. Create a box especially for this activity and then keep it in a closet so it can be easily accessed and easily put away.

Check out these costumes that are currently available in our dress up box.

{Dragon Costume from the movie
"How To Train Your Dragon"}

{This is a Homemade Costume for Frankenstein}

{This was not a Halloween Costume but I thought I'd add it in anyway,
This was a Navy Uniform that we made for Veterans' Day}

Coming Soon

This blog is relatively new so please bare with me. Coming up I will be posting many great activities to do with boys. Also we will be posting about DIY decor and even guidelines to building your own "boys club" aka treehouse. So please stay tuned!